Purple Passion for Valentines

The color PURPLE traditionally has been associated with royalty, but I also associate it with PASSION, since it’s such an intense color.  When I researched the meaning of PURPLE I found something interesting:  “It is understandable that purple represents royalty if one thinks how purple is a mix of red and blue, that is a mix of female and male energies. Mixing female and male energies grants the power of creation which is an attribute of god.”  (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_does_the_color_purple_represent.)    Maybe subconsciously I sensed that meaning the female and male energies, because when I started to plan my Valentine table, I knew I wanted to use PURPLE.  I also found that PURPLE “connotes luxury, wealth, and sophistication,”—well, there you have it!  HAVE to use PURPLE!  (Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/spot/colors1.html#ixzz2Jrt4gOjP)

RED is “the most emotionally intense color…it stimulates a faster heartbeat and breathing.  It is also the color of love," so that’s why RED is the traditional color of Valentines.(http://www.infoplease.com/spot/colors1.html#ixzz2JrtHzzCw/)

PURPLE, shimmery placemats and RED chargers are the foundation for today’s tablescape, which is set for TWO, of course.

Can you feel the passion?  The intense reds, with a touch of shimmery purple, and touches of gold and silver?

The red tassel napkin rings, because of their shimmer, are able to keep up with the shimmer around them.

   If you’ve visited me in the past you know of my PASSION for vintage, hand-embroidered linens.  The napkins are one of several romantic linen touches at this table…  If you love linens too, there’s more coming!

Ahhh, yet another passion—crystal—that adds another element of shimmer and excitement.

And candlelight…  Did you notice that the table is also set for after-dinner coffee, and perhaps CHOCOLATE too?

Roses and china and crystal and chocolate, OH MY!

More vintage napkins.  These came home with me last summer, when I simply could not walk away from them.  And now I see that they are perfect for our romantic Valentine’s Dinner.  The napkin rings are a gift from our youngest son, from years ago.  That bright boy knew to go to Bombay to buy gifts for his Mama.  :)

Vintage sugar bowls and creamers…yet another passion.  And my Table Art leaf spoon, purchased at a lovely little shop, The Morgan House, near our home, years ago.

I needed some height at the table, so I improvised and repurposed my pink Heisey footed server as a pedestal for the coffee service.

This is truly a vintage piece…a square topper that is beginning to show its age, but is soooo loved.  The stitching is exquisite, as is the fabric.  It’s worthy of a table set for royalty, or romantic Valentines.

Nightfall allows for candlelight...the best time to enjoy a Valentine dinner.

More vintage linens—a runner that is pressed into service over and over again—and a vintage silver footed dish adds interest and texture and shimmer to the table.

Hmmmm….I think maybe I’d rather have a scrumptious breakfast with my sweetie at this table!  We can quickly improvise—milk in the water goblets, juice in the wine glasses, move the coffee cups right here next to our plates, and maybe bring on the champagne flutes for mimosas!

The gold flatware that my sweet grandmother gave me years ago, to go with the six sets of Lenox Holiday dessert plates and teacups she gave me.  She was such a sweetheart.  Using this flatware, over and over again as I have over the years, always makes me happy.

Wishing you a happy Valentine’s Day with the one you love.  May you have all the things this table represents, in the way that you most like.

How will you be celebrating Valentine’s Day?  With roses and chocolates and candlelight and crystal and silver?  Or in a different kind of special?  Although I would have loved to have actually eaten at this table, we weren’t able to.  My sweetie has made reservations at a lovely restaurant and shop, The Pine Tree Barn.  It’s a bit of a drive, but one that we love.  We’ll spend a happy day at the shop then I’m sure it’ll be a romantic dinner for two.  That’s the way we like it—dinner for two.

Other details about Purple Passion post:

Goblets: Lismore Tall (water) and Alana (wine)

Candleholders: Waterford

Sugar and creamer: – Pattern and maker unknown.  Haven’t had time to research it, so if you know, please let me know! :)

Under plate used as charger, cups and saucers and coffee server: Lenox Eternal

Dinner plates:  Limoges (according to Replacements.com, the pattern is GueGue 596)

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From my nest to yours, ~Zuni

A New Chickadee Christmas Table

Last year I had a chickadee Christmas table—so fun!  Well, this year, I have a NEW chickadee table, and I couldn’t be more excited.  Last year’s dishes had to be returned :(, so I was chickadee-less for several months :( again.  So IMAGINE, if you can, my joy when I learned about Boehm’s Chickadees and Holly pattern.  I quickly went to my trusted resource, replacements.com and yes! they are lovely dishes!  And now they are MINE! living exactly where they should be living—at Chickadee Home Nest!
Have you heard of Boehm china?  I had not…where have I been?!  Here’s a little bit about it:  American company Boehm Porcelain has been producing the finest porcelain flora and fauna sculptures available since 1950. Inspired by the delicateness, complexity and vibrancy of nature's own artistry, Boehm's renderings of flora and fauna are cast from only the purest white clay, and created by singularly talented artisans with painstaking attention to detail to produce breathtaking original works of art available in both open and limited-edition collections. (Source: wildlife.com)
And so it is that they came to live at our house…happy me!  There’s always room for more chickadees at this nest!

Are they just precious?  See the bottom right, where the china is “signed” `Boehm’?  I find that so interesting.  I wish you could see the detail of the art…it looks as though you can see brushstrokes.  Let’s take a closer look:

And here is the table I set for their homecoming dinner ~

You might remember the red Pottery Barn champagne/footed goblets from other posts.  In fact, I used them last year too, for that Chickadee Table:  http://chickadeehomenest.blogspot.com/2011/12/chickadee-christmas-table.html.    And I also used them for a Fourth of July table: http://chickadeehomenest.blogspot.com/2012/06/4th-of-july-table-and-more.html.  I like red accent pieces because you can use it for so many holidays, and I’ve certainly gotten my {sweet husband’s} money’s worth out of these!  How did he know I needed these?!

The centerpiece was super easy to make.  I used one of my favorite pieces—a red serving plate (gift from my youngest son…he knows I like red), as the under-plate, and placed a silver casserole that I really wanted to use this season, because it belonged to my dear SIL’s father, who passed away earlier this year.  I’m so happy to have it in our home.  To that I added a very vintage pressed glass compote, then filled the casserole with large “picks” (as in already put together) and a few fillers.  In the compote I used an arrangement I’d made for last year’s table and filled the gaps with pinecones and other fillers.

Texture is so important for adding interest to a table, and one of the pieces that made a huge difference this year was the jingle bell garland.  The instant I saw it at Pine Tree Barn (http://pinetreebarn.com/) I knew it was going home with me.  I haven’t seen them anywhere else, but I imagine the good folks at Pine Tree Barn would be more than happy to ship them to you.

Some close-ups for those of us who savor every detail~ I wouldn’t want to leave you wanting for more.

For soooo long I wanted vintage, etched goblets, and now I have several sets of various patterns.  I.cannot.get.enough.of.them.  This pattern (I don’t know the name) in particular, because of the vertical lines, catches the light beautifully, and if you look closely, there are “berries” in the design, following the berries throughout the table.  The wine stem is Waterford Alana, also a vintage pattern.

The darling S&P set is also a gift from our youngest and his darling…perfect for this table.

I love having the sweet grandbabies’ highchair right by our family table, and here it’s pressed into service for after-dinner coffee.

Napkins and Williams-Sonoma crystal “candy cane” stirrers in a Waterford vase.

Are you a red-and-green Christmas person, or have you gone to other combinations that are now faves?  I always seem to gravitate back to the red and green, and then I’m ready for muteds or soft whites by the end of the season.

If you like what you see a lot, maybe you’d like to +1 this post or pin it on Pinterest too! And, I invite you to follow me. If you’ll let me know that you’re following, I’ll be sure to follow you back.

Happy holidays to all!  May your season be warm, calm, filled with music and beautiful things to reflect on the true reason we join together to celebrate.

Here’s where I’ll be seen this week; I hope you’ll stop by too.  They will be fun, fun parties with lots of great ideas sure to please.

Tuesdays at http://www.astrollthrulife.net/
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Thursdays at Tabletop Thursday: http://betweennapsontheporch.net/
Thursdays at Home Sweet Home: http://thecharmofhome.blogspot.com/
Fridays at Feathered Nest: http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/
Sundays at The Tablescaper: http://thetablescaper.blogspot.com/